Having lost control of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), veteran sports administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya tonight received a much needed fillip when he retained the post of President of Cricket Association of Bengal with a narrow victory.
The former BCCI and ICC chief edged out his challenger, Kolkata Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee, 61-56, embarrassing West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee who had publicly backed the latter in the lead up to the elections.
Dalmiya, who has been occupying the president's chair at the CAB uninterruptedly since 1992-93, also ensured victory of his panel's two joint secretarial candidates and treasurer over the nominees of the dissident lobby, in the elections that had split the state's ruling Left Front and its major partner CPI(M).
Dalmiya's victory provides him a platform to take on the BCCI, which has suspended him from attending board meetings, filed an FIR and slapped two show cause notices on alleged irregularities in PILCOM (Pakistan-India-Lanka Organising Committee for the 1996 World Cup).
"I am happy that I have got a platform that I badly needed," Dalmiya told the media soon after the election results were announced.
The win also came as a boost to the former BCCI chief following his long-time protégé and former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly's damning e-mail in which he expressed support to the dissident lobby and accused the Dalmiya faction in the CAB of 'playing' with his career.
Appearing at a joint media briefing with Dalmiya, Mukherjee said "the election result was a victory for cricket."
The elections were held amidst tight security under the supervision of court-appointed observer Justice S K Phoujdar at the Eden Gardens that houses the CAB.
Dalmiya's nominees Saradindu Pal and Amitava Banerjee retained their post as joint secretaries. While Pal sailed through with 71 votes, Banerjee secured 60.
The two joint secretarial candidates of the anti-Dalmiya faction Raja Venkat and Samar Pal bit the dust.
S K Kalyani retained his post as treasurer humbling dissident group's Tushar Kanti Sarkar.
In a departure from CAB convention, the polls to all the posts were held simultaneously and the results announced together, as per a decision taken in advance by the observer following a demand from the dissident faction.
